NRLW Magic Round to battle through scheduling issues

Last season's Magic Round debut in Newcastle was overshadowed by wet conditions across the six games, but ahead of this campaign's edition the weather is looking much more promising. 

But concerns have been raised over the scheduling as Canberra will play North Queensland during the Gold Coast and Warriors NRL battle on Saturday. 

On Sunday, the Warriors and Titans and Parramatta and Knights NRLW fixtures overlap with the NRL's regular time slots. 

Nevertheless, Pearson is confident the scheduling won't affect the weekend. 

"If they want to watch it, they'll tune in, or they'll be there with their double pass in person," Pearson told AAP. 

"I'm from Hay, which is five hours away from Canberra and seven hours from Sydney, so there's people out there that love their footy.

"They're diehard, passionate rugby league fans, and we're coming to them."

Scheduling questions aside, Pearson is more focused on ending the Eels' winless start to the season in front of her home crowd, having grown up in the Riverina region. 

Another team desperate to end their rocky beginning to 2026 are the Cowboys after they collected a piece of unwanted history by losing their first four games for the first time.  

One shining light for the club has been outside back Margot Vella and this year's Magic Round will mean more to her, as in the same weekend last season, she suffered a ghastly knee injury when she slipped on the wet turf. 

"After such a big injury it's definitely brought out a bit of a different face in me, and there were some dark places in that rehab," Vella told AAP. 

"I'm achieving things that I've always wanted to, and it's finally all falling into place, so I really just hope coming back, I can just show what I actually can do out there." 

Cronulla and the Wests Tigers will open the round, followed by the Dragons and Sydney Roosters later on Saturday. 

Brisbane will look to win their 15th consecutive game against Canterbury on Sunday morning.